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TOM M
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Tom.
McEwen

EN the famed Kingston Penitentiary

— tiots in October of 1932 broke out,
Oficial Ottawa and its hoosegow flunkeys
had a handy explanation: “the Commun-
‘Sts.”" For weeks the daily press ran
Stfeamer headlines on the pap handed
Sut to them by “Iron Heel” R. B. Ben-
Nett and his penitentiary commandants.
“Prison Riots Communist-inspired;”
“Reds Spread Discontent in Pen;” “Com-
Nunists Under Double-guard” and so
forth. Ex-superintendent of Penitenti-

aties, Brigadier General Ormond assured
the Canadian people via the same press
that he would quell all Red attempts
hereafter to sow discontent among the
Prisoners, who were all allegedly “happy
48d contented” before the Reds landed
'N Kingston.

© give all this official clap-trap a

semblance of truth in the minds of peo-°

‘© outside jail, an attempt to murder
'™ Buck in his cell was made by a peni-
€ntiary guard. Several volleys of re-
Yolver and rifle fire was pumped into
m’s cell: that they were all “near

Misses” was no fault of the guard who

fired the shots.
peor a long time after the shooting
: ‘ime Minister Bennett argued loudly
hat there had been “no shooting,” as did
'S jail flunkeys. When, however, the
Tuth could no longer be hidden, he and
US janissaries resorted to the “explana-
‘0n” that the shooting was just intended
° “intimidate Buck.” At first glance
that explanation may appear a_ bit
Strange to. the unsophisticated. If how-
‘ver one keeps in mind the nature of
°apitalism there is nothing ‘Strange about
_In any emergency capitalism always
telies on force and bloodshed as its final
whiter, :
Ih view of the recent serious rioting
I _burning in Kingston Penitentiary,
think it is important for Canadians to
"eeall these events of 22 years ago.
his time, and no doubt much to the
“egret of the Penitentiary Branch of the
UStice Department ,there doesn’t seem
@ any communists in the “KP” in-
Mate body. Hence the officials and the
“ewer press seem to be deprived of that
Well-worn howl of “communism” which

8enerally regarded as “explaining” :

“verything. ©
a sequel to the 1932 prison riots a
Royal Commission was set up to conduct
82 exhaustive investigation into penal
Ministration and aims in Canada. Very
"Ww people ever read the voluminious
“Ports of Royal Commissions, but a
Study of the above commission’s report
“ven at this late date would help society
° understand one of its greatest social
Toblems, and its responsibility thereto.
Many of the reforms proposed by the
a 5 Royal Commission have been in-
tituted in Canadian penitentiaries —
and too many haven’t been. The recent
lowup” at Kingston shows that the
atter are the most costly — to public
20d prisoners alike.
The “lag” that has 20-years time still
€ad of him'to “reform” is not impress-
&d by the howl of “Communism” even
®n sung by prime ministers and top
army brass. He is however very much
, Pressed with a little human kindness
° help pass his long grey years. A Royal
; Kaumssion said he should have it. The
tngston Penitentiary riots, devrived of
€ customary. official anti-communist
“Owl, say he hasn’t yet got it.
_t is reported that it will take $2 mil-
ton to-repair the damage from the recent
"ots. That sum could provide a lot of
§menities.

—-FROM THE LONDON DAILY EXPRESS

ADENAUER WRITES A LETTER

“We are prepared to accept your German rearmament program on condition
we sell you the arms that you rearm us with.”

New policies or crisis

ce are headed straight for a crisis.
Only a drastic change in national
policy can prevent it. There will be
750,000 to a million unemployed in
‘Canada by next spring unless policies
are changed.”

This warning from Tim Buck, the na-
tional leaders of the Labor-Progressive
party, is based upon a careful analysis
of facts. :

@ Canada’s wheat carryover as the
new crop is harvested, stands at over
587 million bushels—nearly 200 million
above the ten-year average from 1944.

@ in the first quarter of this year,
Canadian farmers got $32 million less

‘ in cash receipts.

® In the same period total national
production declined in value by $400
million over the last quarter of 1953. .

@ Steel vroduction is down 30 per-
cent; pig iron 20 percent. Motor vehicle
sales have dropped 37 percent. ;

@ That the take-home pay of work-
ers is also dropping is indicated in the
13 percent decrease in income tax de-
auctions at the source.

@ Canadian exports are
diminishing.

As this is written 145,000 railworkers,
through their 14 unions, are negotiating
for fringe benefits the cost of which is

sharply

estimated at the equivalent of 14 cents ,

an hour.

Naturally, th® companies, both the
‘US.-controlled CPR and the government-
owned CNR, plead inability to pay-
Freight carloadings are down 10 per-
cent, they argue; revenues are falling.

1

HE Vancouver local of the Carpenters’
union (AFL) merits the whole-hearted
support of the trade union movement in
its fight to maintain the right of peace-
ful picket. As a result of its fight the
“union’s business agent, Cliff Worthing-
ton is presently on trial for contempt

of court.

The use of the courts by the employ-
ers against the unions is not something
new. It is an old story. As old as the
trade union, movement. However this
case is somewhat ‘unique.
picketed a job as a result of a dispute
with Pacific Construction Ltd. The em-
ployer secured a court injunction for-
bidding the union to picket. The picket-
ing continued despite the injunction. As
a result the union business agent was
cited for contempt of court. When the
case was called the construction com-
pany requested that the charge of con-
tempt it had laid be withdrawn. But
the judge, Mr. Justice Clyne, ruled that
the court would proceed with the case.

When the case was resumed last week
Worthington was not able to be present
as he was attending the Trades and

' tice Clyne.

The union’

The question is: should the rail work-
ers be asked to bear the cost of depres-
sion brought about by national policies
that consistently betray the interests of
the people of Canada?

There are plentiful markets for Can-
adian goods abroad: The 900 million
people of the socialist lands are eager
to trade with us.

Should the rail workers (and the farm-
ers of the West) be penalized because
the government — and the rail corpora-
tions — refuse to adopt Canadian poli-
cies? Because they slavishly and abject-

ly grab for quick profits in return for .

the sell-out of our national heritage to
the USA?

The question of national policy is at
the heart of the problems facing the
Canadian labor movement as it moves
into its annual conventions.

And for the rail workers, it is a doub-
ly vital issue, for the St. Laurent govern-
ment threatens to ape the most vicious
anti-labor legislation in the United States
in order to prevent the railroaders from
exercising their absolute right to strike.

Surely the surrender of the Seaway is
sufficient evidence for the entire labor
movment to see how our country is be-
ing betrayed to the United States. Sure-
ly such evidence must stir organized
labor into protest action, into going be-
yond economic demands into political
action — for the cause of the depression
with which we are threatened is politi-
cal and can be averted by political action
to win national policies that put the in-
terests of Canada first.

The right to picket —

Labor Convention in Regina. Worthing-
ton’s attendance at this important trade
union convention is a vital part 6f his
union responsibilities. Trade unionists
can appreciate this. But not Mr. Jus-
The daily press reports that
the learned judge stated that Worthing-
ton now faces a second contempt charge
for “deliberately leaving town.”

Organized labor cannot afford to allow
its rights to be trampled upon. Last
year an IWA business agent was sent
to jail under a contempt charge arising
out of a Nanaimo picket. Worthington
must be afforded every opportunity to
defend his union’s actions before the
courts while continuing to carry out his
union responsibilities as a delegate.

It is high time that a halt is called
to the increasing use of court injunc-
tions and contempt charges aimed at
preventing unions from exercising the
right of picket. Organized labor should
resolve that it will not rest until that
right is fully held. The next session of
the provincial legislature should adopt
a provincial Bill of Rights which would
include a guarantee that the right to
picket is inviolate.

~~ Hal
Griffin

iy you want to know what people are

talking about up and down this vast
land of ours there is no better place to
find out than on the trains.

Every train brings together its own
little forums of public opinion where
there is no restriction on*topie and no
limit on time except the patients of the
other people. And since there is little
else to do in the long days that it takes
to cross the country. even the longest
winded of speakers will be heard out by
the most impatient of listeners.

The participants in these symposiums
are forever coming and going and new
opinions are heard after every major
stop, but certain topics, you find, come
around again and again.

The St. Lawrence Seaway, for in-
stance.

tt xt %

The electrical worker from Hamilton
has not been in the smoker for: more
than five minutes before he brings the
discussion around to the seaway.

He produces the Toronto Star and
points to that part of Prime Minister St.
Laurent’s speech at the opening ceremony
where he said that the seaway “will
make the rich reserves of iron ore of

_Labrador and Ungava available to steel
‘mills surrounding the Great Lakes,”

He reads on, slowly and deliberately
as though he were afraid we might miss
the significance.

“Tt will provide a great impetus to the
industrial heartland of our continent and
a resulting efforts will be felt by all
of us.”

Then he slaps the paper with his hand

_ and all the pent-up feeling bursts out of

him. :

“What kind of talk is that?” he de-
mands, only talk is not the word he uses.
“Every one knows that the iron ore is
going to the States. They’ll make the
steel with our iron ore’and sell #t back
to us at fancy prices. How does tha‘

help us? Why can’t we make the steel
ourselves,” ‘ °

We find out that he has been laid off
because the garts his plant was making
are now being brought in from the U.S.
He’s lucky, he says, because his brother
is a builder in Regina and he’s on his
way there to work until the fall. But
his “worry over the future is voiced in
his question, “Where’s it all going to end
if more and more stuff is going to be
brought in from the States?”

5o3 * %

The railroader from Montreal is what
an employer would term a reasonable
man. When he hears us complaining
about the outrageous prices in the diner
he tries, unsuccessfully, to give us the
company’s viewpoint. In fact his whole
argument echoes the CPR publicity de-
partment. :

But on one point he has to agree with
us. Having told us whaf* fine new trains
the CPR will soon be placing in service,
he can find no answer when the farmez
from Swift Current points to the plate
that says the car we are on was made in
the Angus Shop at Montreal, and asks:

“{ hear these new trains are being
built in the U.S. Why couldn’t they have
been built in Canada?”

If St. Laurent cares to listen, he will
find he has been no more successful:
selling his U.S. policy at home than he
has been abroad.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 27, 1954 — PAGE 5